I'm curious to see how the roster will be modified in the preseason. Payne has made some moves but he has inherited quite a few previous regime(s) incumbents and I wonder which ones will stay and which ones will be moved..
umm, am i the only one that sees a true issue here. Nelson is as far as i can see today, a member of QPR. With training camp starting, what, Jan 19, and really no one is really sure if Nelson is coming at the end of the transfer window in Jan, or when the league is over in May do we really want to bet our 7th season on not having a head coach from the beginning, let alone already in place figuring stuff out. This isnt a team with stellar success, and championships under its belt. Its a sports empire that has the same track record in Baseball, Hockey and Basketball to go along with the lack of production on the soccer team. For 6 years its been an example of how NOT to build, how NOT to enjoy any success and really in no position to take a "flyer" on something that on paper stinks and is not really ideal. For 20 years its been the same on the basketball side. For near close to 50 years its been the same on the hockey side. When will MLSE learn how to run an organization and not a balance sheet.
ummmm, did you skip over pages 1-4 in this thread and only read page 5? No, you are not the only one to notice this.
Kevin Payne knows MLS and knows what it takes to win in this league. He was won championships and has built dynasties. He has scouted and hired inexperienced coaches before and has been successful with them. Clearly, with Ryan Nelsen he has figured "this is the guy I want to lead this team" and is willing to wait for him to become available. I'd trust that 100 times more than Anselmi interviewing 20 coaches who are available now and selecting the best one in his opinion.
Can I just make one small request here and ask that everyone from this point forward start spelling Nelsen's name correctly? Especially those of you who constantly complain about there being too much English influence at TFC and yet are spelling it "Nelson"
Well it was the ESPN feed, so it was mcnamara and the other guy for an American audience. Yeah, there was a fair bit of TFC talk.
Ya'all are quick to point out the Novack and Olsen hires by Payne, but you fail to mention the Kurt Onalfo, Tom Rongen, and Tom Soehn hires. They were miserable. And by the way, he refused to hire Ben until after he was rejected by his top coaching picks. He told the season ticket holders he refused to hire a coach with no experience. He wanted a Sigi Schmidt or Bruce Arena calliber coach. And so it goes. This man talks out of both sides of his mouth. I hope TFC fans hold his feet to the fire. Anyone who thinks the team's early successes were due to Payne and not Bruce Arena are probably named Payne. The guy never played a game of soccer in his life and has ridden the coat tails of a few good decisions made by his early coach. Then he hired people who would kiss his ring. and he failed at virtually every step. His most important responsibility was to get a stadium deal done. Yet he refused to engage his fan base to pressure city government leaders. Basic stuff that his ego won't allow. I hope good things for TFC - for you the fans. But I'd be shocked if anything great comes of this team before Payne is sacked.
and one more point. Ryan Nelsen is an absolute class act and plays with extreme heart and skill. I do think it's ridiculous to hire him now although that could be successfully managed if Payne is smart enough to bring someone in and get out of the way (which won't happen). I do think Nelsen can be a successful MLS coach but I would give him half a season to work out the kinks.
I actually could care less if Nelsen is here right now or during camp. The way I see it, with Payne and the hiring of O'leary (as well as giving Nelsen 5 years), this year is going to be the year for Nelsen to dip his toes in. If the team knows what it has to do on the field, and the technical staff are teaching it exactly the way Nelsen will want it, its fine. Nelsen is the one with attention to detail and high level of charisma and motivation skills, which is a separate set of skills then simply drawing up stuff on paper, and relaying it to the players. Although mariner was also a motivator type, he was also an egomaniac in terms of his football IQ, played an old brand, and didn't like to designate tasks out to other technical staff. Nelsen will offer tactical and technical guidance but i think being adaptive to the current mls game will come alot from o'leary until Nelsen can make full transition and hes fully under the water. That partnership and having multiple people dealing with different areas of expertise and skill sets are a main reason why I think this is going to be different.
since the season will be nearly half over before he joins....is this additional half a season a suggestion that we should just forget about any 2014 success?
Former MLS champion goalie and asst coach at DCU Pat Onstad to join TFC coaching staff: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs.../01/15/onstad-leaving-d-c-united-for-toronto/
So apparently, according to the press conference today, Nelsen will be joining the team full time at the end of the month
Just saw that on the bbc website Retread. Plays his last game for QPR on 29th Jan against Man City before taking over from Feb 1st. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/21161388 It's good that you have got him in before the season starts.
I agree. I don't want to utter the word "Ve....n...." Ah, never mind. What a disaster that ownership is. I guess a snowball might help facilitate a sale. We can dream right?